Dauntless – Page 11 – Dauntless at Sea

Three Months, Two Weeks, Four Days, Seven Hours, Five Minutes & Six Seconds

That’s how long the Pilot House Reorganization has taken. It’s finally done, as these pictures will attest. I threw away four trash barrels of junk and packing material. I repacked all of my tools, spare parts and associated fasteners and bits and pieces.

I have listed everything and where it is and what it is packed in.

My goal was not only to know where to find stuff should I ever need it, but also to make the engine room in particular, less prone to floating debris, should a disaster ever take place.

The last step will be to organize the lists on the computer, so when the shit hits the fan, I’m not leafing thru my hand written sheets, trying to figure out what I wrote and of course, not seeing the one item I am looking for.

This also means that Dauntless is finally ready to move. Next week, she will move ¾ mile up river to the boat yards, where her nice round bottom will be cleaned and painted. A bottom I know well, as its very efficiency has allowed this entire adventure and the greater adventures to follow.

Lastly, to be more diligent than the last time, I have scheduled the next Pilot House Reorganization in my Samsung Note calendar for April 12, 2035.

Yes, you read it right. 20 years from now and if I am a lucky person, I’ll die just days before !

Port side Helm Station. Computer, Maretron, Router, AIS on upper shelf. Lower shelf has bins of my most used electrical parts — Port side Helm Station.
Computer, Maretron, Router, AIS on upper shelf.
Lower shelf has bins of my most used electrical parts

Dauntless Cruise Plan – Baltic 2015

Well folks, as we get closer and closer to summer, the moss in growing under my feet, so it’s getting time to move on. As initially planned a few years ago, this summer will be spent in the Baltic. The attached picture shows the tentative route from our departure from Waterford in late May to our return in early October.

As planned, this voyage will be about 4100 nm with 72 legs spread over 130 days. A bit ambitious, but that’s us. While some of the major stops: Holland, last two weeks in June; East Germany, 4 July; Gdansk, 18 July; Riga, 24 July; Tallinn, 30 July & 15 Aug; Helsinki, 6 Aug; are hard wired in, pretty much everything in between is open and will be determined based on weather, seas and moods.

Our usual mode of travel is about 6.5 knots, consuming 1.5 gal/hr. or 4.2nm/gal (2 liters/km) so the total cruise will need about 1000 gallons, 4000 liters, of fuel. So will need to pick up about 300 gallons along the way, to get back to the UK, Ireland with near empty tanks.

Normally we like cruising one day, then stopping at the same place for two nights. By cruising every other day, it keeps the batteries up and in hot water for about half that time. I am in the process of putting the water heater and washer on the Inverter circuit. Thus we’ll have hot water on the non-motoring days.

For charts, I am using the Jepp C-Map charts running on Coastal Explorer, plus Navionics on my tablet and smart phone. I looking for some large scale paper charts to facilitate the long range planning.

Though we will have cell phone coverage most places, I will have our Delorme InReach running and on Dauntless 24/7 to keep a running track of our trip. I will also attempt to take better pictures, videos and document the trip better.

I really appreciate the postings of Dockhead and Carstenb on Cruisers Forum. Their information and enthusiasm about the Baltic have been contagious.

As always, I’m open to suggestions, but keep in mind that some places are locked and loaded and that no trip is ever perfect.

If anyone knows the price of fuel at the Brusnichnoye Lock on the Saimaa Canal, I’d love that information, but I won’t need to know it until the very end of July. That far eastern jaunt will probably be eliminated in any case, unless fuel is 33 cents a liter, as I do need to cut down some miles.

Senses Re-tuned

Drip, drip drip. There was a leak somewhere and i was determined to find it.

The bilge pumps had not turned on, so that made it easier. The leak was not into the bilge.

Living for the most part on a boat, it is amazing how my senses have become much keener. I see, hear and small things, like never before.

In New York, Julie has a group of people who really help her live in and appreciate the moment. Dauntless has done that for me.

During the night, I noticed the water pump cycling on for a few seconds. Now I was sleeping, so it was unclear to me how often this was happening, but I probably heard it five times in the course of the night.

I would hear it, then go back to sleep. I wondered if I heard it because I was already awake or did it waken me? I think the latter; otherwise I would hardly have been sleeping. Much like when sleeping in the pilot house, I would awake whenever a light appeared in front of me. The rising of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon always woke me without fail.

So this morning, I decided to tackle this problem before doing anything else, even getting dressed. There was a leak and I would find it before getting distracted.

So there I was with my LED flashlight, my cozy slippers and nothing else. Grateful no one could see me, for I am sure it was a comical sight.

Deciding to start at the bow, I looked at the forward shower and sure enough, drip, drip, drip. I opened the faucet and closed it again, tighter. The drip stopped.

Problem solved. Yes, sometimes, it’s as simple as that.

In fact, as I understand Dauntless better and she understands me, problems tend to be simple.

Why? because we found the right boat of the right brand, Kadey Krogen, that was optimized for what we wanted to do with her.

I’m debating whether to write more extensively about the systematic process we went through to find this boat and be where we are today.

Please tell me what you think.

A Perspective

Yesterday evening, the 5^th of February 2015, as I gazed out the window watching the traffic flow along the quay of Waterford the realization struck me as to how much has changed in just one year.

Looking out the Salon Window onto the Quay of Waterford, Ireland

Last year at this time, I had just returned from the Bahamas, had crossed the dreaded Gulf Stream, this time alone and was docked at my friend’s Paul house.

Now I had set up Paul and Chantal, my crewmate, as they seemed a very good match. The problem was I lost a reliable crewmate and as it turned out, Paul got weirder and weirder and I still not understand what happened.

But Dauntless was in Miami to have a lot of work done in preparation of the upcoming Atlantic Passage coming up in July. I had thought I had found a rigger and fabricator who would do the paravane stabilization system and I was waiting in very nervous anticipation for that work to start, as it was something that had to be done before our passage and they had given me a price I could afford, though I still had to manage my meager resources well.

So it’s early February, I had no help and all this work (buy, make, install) had to be done on the boat before we left and time was running out:

Fabricate and install the paravanes,
Replace current fridge and freezer with 12 volt system,
Solar panels,
Water maker,
Replace the depth sounder,
12 v boat computer and 12v monitors,
New navigation system and chart plotter,
AIS transceiver,
Replace one VHF antenna repair the other
Get a life raft,
Maretron system for environmental and navigation data,
European, Canadian and Atlantic charts,
Spare engine parts, alternator, injection pipes, water pump,
15 Lexan storm windows to make and install,
Replace 112 bungs in the teak deck,
Paint the cap rail, sand the rub rail,
Get a bicycle,
New Anchor
Get my Captain’s license (handy in Europe)

And I knew even once all of this was done, we still had to cross 3,000 miles of the North Atlantic.

Now, I had been reading, reading and reading, asking folks stuff on Trawler Forum, but the hard part was actually deciding on this versus that. Why that life raft and not this one. As the time crunch got crunchier, it became easier only because it was time to shit or get off the pot, as my mother would say.

But even now, I look at that list in amazement and also proud that I, we, got it done. It would not have happened without the help and support of some new friends.

In March, Richard (not me, another Richard), who I had met in the marina in Providence, came down from Rhode Island and spent a month with me doing a lot of different jobs. I so appreciated his company and work and Dauntless still shows his efforts. He also helped to get me focused and on track.

I had also moved the boat to a little pontoon just behind Park’s store, Hopkins-Carter Marine. This also turned out to be a Godsend in that, when the paravanes were finally being built, I had a store one minute away that had all the extra things I needed every hour.

Finally the paravanes were done and I hightailed it to Ft. Pierce, where David spent two weeks installing the fridge, freezer, solar panels and water maker.

The rest of the work was done in the coming months as I returned to Providence, where in the last days before departure, Richard again came to the rescue and got my Lexan cut to size and then, finally, only three hours before departure, Julie and I finished installed the Lexan storm windows.

And the rest is history.

So, as I sit here in a warm cozy Kadey Krogen a year later, I’m in Europe, our goal of the last 7 years, the worst problem I seem to have is that in sorting and cataloging spare parts and reorganizing everything, I’ve discovered that I have 4 soldering irons.

Even though we have a few more oceans to cross and many miles to go; it’s all downhill from here.

Life is Good.

More Shenanigans or How Do I Really Spend My Days

I wrote this over the last two days.

I have a 12v heating pad on my bed and it is probably the only thing keeping me from becoming a frozen board by morning. During the last few days I have come to understand that the current for this heating pad is not going through my Victron Battery Monitor. I figured this out by watching the current draw and the voltage, as I turn on the heating pad. The current does not change, but the voltage does.

That’s bad. My initial reaction was to do nothing, but this morning, after stirring the pot a bit on Cruisers Forum, I decided I should do something about it.

Why? Inquiring minds want to know? Because I used a positive lead that also powered this red light that is under my bed stand and over the fluxgate compass. So now, what bothered me even more was that if the heat pad was not going thru the Victron Battery Monitor,(it tells me how much power is left in the batteries and how much I am using at any given time)

It meant that the supply line was not coming from the main distribution panel, which could also mean that it is not going thru any circuit breaker. That’s a problem. While I put fuses on most things I add, I want everything to go thru at least one of the distribution panels and its respective circuit breaker.

That also allows me to know that when I turn everything off, everything is actually off and with no power going to it. Critical when I leave the boats for longer periods of time.

Now as to why there is a red light, in a 2 ft. by 1 ft. night stand is a good question. The most likely reason I can come up with, is that the first owner saw the need to put the little people down there to navigate and provide better information for the fluxgate compass, as it surely needed it.

I guessing the little people escaped once I got to Ireland, because I have never seen them.

But that’s clearly a whole other story.

So, I decided, how hard can it be? I crossed the Atlantic; this shouldn’t take more than a half hour. Whenever you think something shouldn’t take more than a half hour, pack a lunch and probably a dinner too.

Now, 5 hours later, I’m done. I’ll just give you the highlights, which included:

Spending an hour to out back together the Japanese 12v DC outlet, including spending at least 20 minutes putting a little bolt in backwards and not understanding why it didn’t tighten anything.
Spending an hour trying to get a too fat a wire thru too small a hole, then a different wire, then too many shenanigans to mention; before finally drilling another hole.
Getting everything all back together, turning on the circuit breaker only to see a draw of 0.7A when everything was off. Knowing there was nothing plugged into any of the 12v outlets, I quickly checked the propane solenoid, and thank god, I had left it on and it was the culprit.

So after all that, but now, I turn on the heating pad and it’s not clear that I have corrected the problem.

It’s not clear because even though it is raining and of course cloudy, the solar panels still put about a quarter amp into the batteries and I have no easy way to turn that off.

Tonight, we shall see what we shall see.

Nothing Changed!

Once it was dark, by 16:30, it was clear that absolutely nothing had changed. No current being registered on the Victron.

I decided to start watching a new Korean Drama.

So this morning, after my tasty breakfast of lemon meringue pie and coffee, I decided to tackle the elusive heating pad again.

I realized that I had just changed the load source and not the ground and the Victron was measuring through the ground. Duh

This time it only took me an hour. But I sure am glad I had made that larger hole yesterday, otherwise I’d still be f..ing around with it.

Now, I wish I would have thought to wire in an indicator light.

I really wrote this for the folks on Trawler Forum, but thought some of you may like. Please tell me one way or another.

Richard

Surfing the Internet; Ignorance and Fear

And instead of looking at the same old T&A, (it never gets old; yes, it does), I spend a lot of time on the cruising, sailing and trawler forums. A lot of time.

I have for the past few years and have learned so much. And much like T&A it does start to get repetitive, but the gems are still out there and unlike T&A, those gems may save our lives.

I was on Sailnet reading this discussion about fore reaching, trying to understand what it was and how to do it in a motor vessel (http://www.sailnet.com/forums/seamanship-navigation/71266-forereaching-3.html. When I came upon this gem, hidden in the advertorial about these Jordan Services drogues. http://www.jordanseriesdrogue.com/D_10.htm quoted in part:

“A final misconception is the belief that a breaking wave “strikes” the boat and that the moving water in the crest does the damage. Actually, the boat is lifted by the forward face of the wave with no impact. When it reaches the breaking crest the boat velocity is close to the wave velocity. The crest water is aerated and has little damage potential. Damage to the boat is incurred when the boat is thrown ahead of the wave and impacts the green water in the trough. The leeward side and the deck are struck. A careful reading of “Fastnet Force Ten” and “Fatal Storm” will confirm this conclusion.”

Now this explanation is describing waves three to four times bigger than what I encountered. But it helps me understand the movement of Dauntless that I was feeling during that last 6 hours of the big storm on August 28^th.

It was dark, I was lying on the pilot house bench in large part not to lose my footing and because there was nothing else I could really do. The ComNav Autopilot, (I need to write those people) was doing a fine job, better than I could do myself. I was tired and sick of bouncing around. For the previous 25 days, I had laid a course that mitigated the waves and winds. Now, in this last 24 hours of our trip, I just wanted the trip to end, as soon as possible. That meant no more detours; a direct line to Castletownbere or bust.

So as I lay there, rocking and rolling, about every minute or two, I would feel the boat sliding down the wave front on its beam, hit the trough with a large thump. Now we were sliding only a few feet, unlike the boats that got destroyed during the Fastnet Race, but enough to cause the thump, but nothing more. The lee side cap rail within a foot of the water, a big rush of white water that I realize from reading the above, was caused by the boat hitting the trough. Then in this hesitation that felt far longer, but a most was only a few seconds, Dauntless would linger about 30 to 40° heeled over, as I felt the wave pass under the boat. Only once, the day before, did the rail actually go under water by about a foot. At the time I had thought that we were pooped meaning a wave came over the stern in a following sea, but later I realized water had come over the lee side cap rail.

just a few days earlier,I had realized that the paravane stabilizers actually were least effective with a following sea and most effective with the sea and waves on the beam. The problem with beam seas is that it is also more dangerous in case of a big wave. But big is a relative term and while I knew it was uncomfortable, I also knew that the boat was built for this and there was certainly no danger.

So understanding the how and why is very important for me. Ignorance causes fear and the journey of Dauntless is just beginning, so we still have much to learn.

Dauntless Planning Plan B

Already the plan has changed; not significantly, but it will give me more time in Ireland.

I’ve realized that it makes more sense not to depart Ireland, until I’m ready for the Schengen clock to start (my 3 months out of every 6). Therefore, we will use April and May to explore Ireland. Julie only has the 10 days Easter break during that time, so actual cruising will depend up who is aboard.

To that end, I’ve also put a posting on Cruiser’s Forum, for a Crewmate/roommate/conversation mate for winter and spring. We’ll see, the winter months I don’t have much to offer, but April and May could be nice. I have a number of projects that need to get done this winter and realize I just work better, more efficiently, with someone to bounce ideas off, help pull wires and just be around to help.

I have a few friends who have expressed interest in leaving Ireland with me in June as we start our odyssey on the continent. We’ll see. Dauntless is pretty well booked for the high summer months of July and August, but by September 1st, I expect to be back west, in Denmark and will need someone to help me get the boat back to Ireland, via Norway, the Shetlands, the Orkneys, Scotland and finally Ireland by month’s end.

As I am in Italy for another few days this holiday period, today, the 4th, Befana starts. Every town had built a big bonfire, 30 feet wide, 40 to 50 feet high, that will be burned tonight to symbolize the burning of the witch. Even small towns. One of the pagan rituals that has survived Christianity. I wish I could see a satellite shot. Maybe I can find an IR satellite picture tonight, but it would probably need the resolution of a polar orbiting satellite, not the ubiquitous GOES.

But the real point of this story is that I get so excited talking about our future plans with Dauntless, 2015, but also 2016 and 2017. This is where I must manage my expectations, so that I do not take away from the present Baltic trip, because I am thinking of the Pacific crossing. On the positive side, by having a plan in the back of my mind, it allows me to refine and think of contingencies well before we ever execute it.

Reflections through Books, Moves & Music

Reflections through Books, Moves & Music

I have decided to start another blog that focuses on books, movies and music. Not all books, music or movies, no, just the few that really touched me and I think will be of interest to the readers of my blogs.

This will help me to keep the Dauntless blog more focused directly on the adventures and shenanigans of Dauntless and its intrepid crew.

So here is the link, to Reflections through Books, Moves & Music,https://richardbost.wordpress.com/

Dauntless’ Spring & Summer 2015 Cruise Plans

Currently Dauntless is wintering over in Waterford, Ireland, a wonderful town in the southeast of the country, full of really nice, interesting, outgoing people. Ireland has so exceeded my expectations, it will be hard not to return next winter, but we have six months of exploring and cruising before that decision must be made.

As of now, I am subject to the 90 days out of 180 days Schengen Visa requirements. Worst case, this means I can only be in the Schengen area for 90 days and I would then plan those 90 days to be 1 June to 1 Sept. There is a possibility that the Schengen area countries will offer a 180 day Visa in the near future. That clearly would solve my issues and I could stay in the Schengen area for April, May and September.

Ireland, Scotland, the U.K. and the Channel Islands are all out of the Schengen area.

So worst case, only 90 days,is once I leave Ireland in the spring, stopping in France and Belgium only for a week or so, before retreating to the Channel Islands. Then by the end of May, start heading east, first into Holland, then Germany ending up in Gdansk by mid-July, starting our Baltic explorations as described below.

Spring and Summer 2015 Cruise Plan

When	Where	What
March	Waterford, Ireland	Prepare Dauntless for the cruising season
Early April	Depart for France/Belgium	Channel Islands, enter French Canals, Dunkerque-Escaut, in NE France or go to Belgium direct
April, May	France/Belgium or Channel Islands	Explore NE France & Belgium Canals, subject to our Air Draft of 4.5m
June	Head NE, Belgium, Holland and Germany	Find the most interesting route to the Kiel Canal, the Baltic adventure begins
End of July	Germany and Poland	Eastern Germany and Poland, Gdansk last two weeks of July
August	Baltic Republics	Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. Russia?
September	The Baltic or the North Sea	Finland, Sweden, Baltic Republics, Russia???
October	Winter Haven?	Returning to Ireland ,Scotland or the Orkney’s

The Pacific Northwest

I’ve been spending some days in the Pacific Northwest. Drove to the entrance to Mt. Rainier national Park, but they had a requirement that even with four wheel drive, you had to show you had chains.

Don’t you feel safer knowing the bureaucracy is protecting you from yourself? I know I do. Hardly.

But driving along the tree lined roads, walking under moisture laden evergreens, is still almost a religious experience for me. In fact about as close to religion as I will ever get.

To think that my life outside NYC started here 45 years ago and it turned out to be a long path, my love for these west coast rain forests has never abated. I still feel an energy coming from every tree. Now the only difference is I feel an energy coming from every wave on the ocean. And waves actually have energy, so maybe much like a self-winding watch; I am being constantly energized being on the ocean.

Julie and I’s discussions are centered around the triple points of her school, our next dinner and our life on the ocean. Upon arrival on Flores in the Azores, after our first steps on land, our initial conversation was that having just completed 14 days at sea; we could have easily done another 14.

Many people have asked us about being afraid on the ocean during storms. As I looked at the dark green of the forest, I was reminded of our last camping trip, where we camped, on a small logging road midway between Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens. This was a route I have taken a few times since I discovered this route that goes south all the way to the Columbia River back in 1997. A beautiful drive through forests surrounded by the three mountains (Mt. Rainier to the north).

Well, that night, after finishing our steak dinner cooked over a wood fire, as we finished up our bottle of wine, we heard three distinctive log thumping’s, like someone swinging a baseball bat at a tree trunk. Thump, thump, thump. It seemed close, the sun was just setting, as we walked down the path about 100 meters looking to see what could have made that noise.

Seeing nothing, we walked back to the car, but then our imaginations got the better of us and we slept in the car. That night, I was more afraid than I have ever been on the ocean.

What a fraidy cat.

The Free Water Protest in Ireland this Weekend

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to buy.

Irish Water wants to go private, so this will mean that everyone has to pay for water. The Irish Water protests were headline news in Ireland over the weekend. Waterford had almost 1000 people standing with umbrellas in the pouring rain to protest the announced water charge. As I watched, I wondered if anyone thought to collect all the water that was falling and try to sell it back to Irish Water. But that’s the way my iconoclastic brain works.

At first blush, it is a bit difficult to see what the fuss is about; after all, most of us are used to paying to have water delivered to our faucets. But on closer inspection, there are some real issues here that would resonate with almost any American who isn’t in Congress. Ireland it seems has always provided free water. Much like the Alaska Village Water Program, one of the better government beliefs that people are entitled to safe, clean water.

So back to Ireland, here you are, the little Irish family, cute from freckles to Brogue, and you get this notice saying from now on you will be charged “X” amount for your water every month. But then you discover that the “X” amount is basically to pay for the people to administer the program. Yes, you are really not paying for water, hey, the pipes, and infra-structure are unchanged, no, you are paying for the bureaucrats to stuff that bill in the mail every month and send it to you. And there are a lot of bureaucrats. Seems you are also paying for their families and their kids and maybe even the kid’s kids.

OK, that’s bad enough, but you’ve been in the EU for 50 years, so you’re used to paying bureaucrats for the time of day, so you think to yourself, everyone has to eat, even the bureaucrats’ kids.

But then, you discover that the chiefs of this money transfer get a bonus, not based on performance mind you, for that would mean developing a system that actually listened to the people and maybe even answered the phone, no they get bonuses based on what other fat cats get. This is a scam worry of the US Congress. I wonder why they did not think of it first??.

The simple fact is when government takes 50% of your income to feed itself; it’s too much, no matter what the excuse. Rich don’t pay; poor don’t pay; only the working people pay. What a scam.

Liverpool, Learning & Life

I’ve been here 5 days, returning to Dauntless tomorrow. I came to England for a lecture about cruising the Baltic, specifically Poland, this past Friday in London. This is exactly why we are in Europe. I get to see new things, renew old friendships and learn new ideas that are promotive of even more learning.

I love learning; it’s why I loved teaching. You can’t have one, without the other, in spite of the many who try.

We took a tour of Wales yesterday. My childhood best friend Eve, wanted to find the grave of Jack Black, a slave who was brought to Wales in the 1700’s. After that, the drive home was interrupted my a cattle stampede, when half a dozen cows decided to make a run for it, instead of crossing the road to the barn. Anyone who has chased their cat or dog knows the routine: run up road, wait for man to catch up, run up road again, continue until tired.

Today,I had gone to the bookstore this afternoon to try to find a book of the geology of England and Ireland. I got distracted. I have not often been in a large book store in Europe in which all the books are in English. A real treat. So first I got distracted by the book about Steve McQueen, and then on the same table was the Katherine Hepburn book, an hour later I thought I better get cracking and find my geology book. Well, science was next to math and for some reason I just had to pick up the calculus book and refresh my brain about differentials, limits and integrals. By the time that was over, it was time to leave, so I hastily looked and found nothing having to do with geology.

The lecture about the Baltic was interesting and I met even more interesting people. It reinforced my tentative plan and made me more open to also visiting Russia and St. Petersburg. We’ll see.

A few weeks ago, I was worried about being bored this winter. Now, in the last days, I realize my dance card is getting rapidly filled. How so? Plans so far:

During the next two weeks on Dauntless, I must:
- Plan the installation of the Wallas heater
- String some shore power lights, so D looks more festive and less lonely when I am not there.
- Figure out my the washer dryer isn’t working
- Clean and organize the fly bridge, getting the water out of the dingy, so it doesn’t look so derelict
- Make some tasty soups that I can eat with the Hobbit bread

I’ll be in the U.S. form about November 12^th thru December 14^th, during which time I will:
- Attend some Univ. of Washington Alumni thing in NYC
- Spend thanksgiving with Julie’s parents
- Visit Roger in Ft. Walton Beach, as he was one of my prime communicators for the Passage
- Visit old friends out west in Denver and Seattle. Like plants, friendships must be nurtured and maintained to thrive.
- I’ve decided to drive, preferring to spend the money on gas as opposed to airline tickets. It means I will me making the grand tour, NYC to Florida to the Rockies, Pacific Northwest and finally back to NYC. Driving gives me the opportunity to stop and visit more friends, both new and old.

Then when I return to Ireland, I’ll only have a few days before I go to northern Italy to see my friends in Budoia, Pordenone, Friuli and Treviso. Julie will meet me there for her Christmas vacation.
When I get back to D in mid-January, I will have to install the Wallas diesel heater and before I know it, it will be time to meet Julie in Spain the middle of February.
By early March, I hope to be getting D ready for our spring and summer cruising. Now, all of this is very tentative, but on first blush, this is what we are thinking:
- Leave Ireland for England and the Channel Islands in April
- Brittany, Belgium and finally Holland by June
- Germany, Kiel Canal and Poland in July
- Poland, the Baltic Republics July and August
- Finland, Sweden and the Gulf of Bothnia August
- September??? Probably returning to Poland for winter??

So that’s the rough plan. Clearly the further out the more tentative. Much of my cruising will depend on visitors, in the sense that I seldom cruise alone. With Julie only having 3 weeks, I’ll have 9 of 12 summer weeks do something. So If I have guests, then I will travel; if not, I won’t.

So, as you can see, I seem to have filled much of my time. There are a number of projects, most revolve around photography, but now who knows how much time I will have.

I’ll publish my cruising plans as they firmer. Should you have any questions, feel free to email me.

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